Good morning. I think this is still the morning. Its dark out so who knows. I made coffee and I flipped over my meat for the sauerbraten. So it a good start to the day.

Last night I stopped on the way home for bread. I came home with my loaf of bread and heated up meats balls and spaghetti. I ate and watched Jeopardy. Then I added 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of milk to my friendship bread starter. It still lives. Then I flipped over my meat for the sauerbraten and went to bed. Side note: I didn’t win the lottery of $700 Million dollars. It was someone in California. As the French say: say la vie.

On a positive note, yesterday’s lunch was Chicken Matzo Ball Soup. I cheated and used my insta-pot again. I also used 2 boxes of no salt chicken stock that was on sale for $1.99 each. To this, I added 3 whole chicken breasts (with the bone). To the stock, I added 1 Carrot diced, 1 Celery Stalk diced and 1 tsp Chicken bouillon (instead of salt). I turned on the pot and set it to broth. This is high pressure and 25 minutes of cooking time. I let it cool down for 30 minutes before opening it up. While is cooling I mixed up package of Matzo ball mix. The package is nothing more than matzo meal and baking soda ,but its all premeasured and packaged so I don’t have to worry about the matzo meal going stale. To that, I added ¼-cup vegetable oil and two eggs. Let it sit in the regenerator for the rest of the time (20 minutes) then added golf ball size pieces of dough to the soup along with a cup of fine noodles. I turned on the Sauté setting until the soup simmered. Then I hit cancel. I put on the lid to the the insta-pot and pressed the “keep warm” button. I let those balls cook like that for 35 minutes.   

When I finally tasted it, it seemed to have turned out perfect. Soft vegetables in a tasty and rich broth that complimented the light matzo balls and fine egg noodles. The true test is if Maryanne’s mother approves. Maryanne was going to bring some to her. This is comfort food at its best. The only thing missing was maybe a grilled cheese sandwich. Hmmm…maybe I can have any leftover soup with grilled sandwich today.

Well lets hope I can stay awake long enough to cook dinner tonight. Keep following along all week to see how this Sauerbraten thing turns out. Until tomorrow wishing you a happy and healthy hump day!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)